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Imagine the world without anger, without greed. We have the power, the tools, the skills and the resources right now to build a peaceful world, where people live in harmony with the Earth and each other. This blog explores ways we are doing just that, one post, one change, one day at a time. Join me. Tell your stories. Ask for help. Spread your ideas for making the vision real and, well, ordinary.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

In Glow, her latest journal entry, Rose is alight on a stormy day, cheered at sighting a gooseberry in flower as well as a just-leafing golden currant.

While the fruit of the Fucshia-flowered gooseberry is best left to the birds, the fruit of the golden currant, which begins blooming about a month later, is delectable and frequently used to make jams and jellies, as well as the delicious scones Rose anticipates.

Native fruits and plants provide significant food for Ordinary, as they did for the people who inhabited this land long before we Europeans first crested the Diablo Mountains and gasped in awe at the breadth and beauty of wild flowers carpeting the area from hill to vale, interrupted here and there by herds of elk and deer.

After centuries of European dominance over the region, little remains of Nature's vast gardens. Where flower-drenched meadows once stretched as far as the eye could see, brown hills glow golden in the late afternoon sunlight, picaresque, and potent with danger. The tiniest spark, buffeted by a brisk wind, and our hills rage with fire, blackening all in its path, legacy of the exotic grasses the missionaries and settlers introduced.

Did you know the golden hue of our hills, symbolic of California as much as the precious ore that drew so many of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, is due to these invasive grass species? Quickly displacing plants estimated to be 200-1,000 years old, the wild oats, barley and fescues the good Fathers brought to their missions overtook extant species. California's native grasses, admirably adapted to her seasons of summer drought and winter rains, were green year round. Had we Europeans not sown our wild oats, California might be known as the emerald state.

They live in communities that support the land that nourishes them, much as the pre-Europoean Ohlone did. Their small, peaceful villages dotted the Santa Clara Valley for millennia before the first European settlers arrived 225 years ago. They managed their populations, husbanded the land, and keenly understood and respected the living system of which they were a part.

In a world that is doubling its population at ever greater rates, is it possible to live as part of Nature, sharing her bounty, never abusing her largess? Dare we dream of living once again in peace among verdant hills awash with blooming wildflowers, sparkling with icy, cold streams and bubbling with bird song and the voices of children running happily in the fields?

2 comments:

Wow, and if I'm not mistaken you live in rain country where the grass grows high and seldom dries out completely. That is hard work. Your virtue is reel, er real! Hope it helps keep you fit and strong.

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About Me

This is not my time to stop and rest. This is my time to clean up the messes we've made and build a good world, not a better world, a good world. I do not want my grandchildren to think I did not do enough to prevent runaway global warming and create a better world for them and their children. Every day, I do what I can. Every web page, blog post and network contribution I make is part of that. Every dollar I spend--or choose not to spend--is part of that. Every light, every faucet, I turn on and off is part of that--or not!
Day by day, I am learning to make better choices. When they work for me, I share them that others might take heart as well.